^^ 


**^  "^  '^^^/i 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


'^ 


Presented   byT?(SVi  .  ^"Te^A  0\  .  C^r'0\^G\  C\ 


BV  4510 

.M25  1898 

McClure, 

James  G.  K.  1848- 

1932 

The  man 

who  wanted  to  help 

^l^X  '^(^  ^t'iJut  lt,Ai,:zA4^ 

ik^^^    oCcJu^  ^^hW".  °^-^' 


The  Quiet  Hour  Series 

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How  the  Inner  Light  Failed 

By  Newell  Dwight  Hillis,  author  of*  A  Man's  Value 
to  Society,"  etc. 

The  Men  Who  Wanted  to  Help 

By  Rev,  J.  G.   K.  McCiure,  D.D.   author  of  "  Possi- 
bilities." 

Young  Men       By  Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  D.D. 

The  Autobiography  of  St.  Paul 

Faith  Building      By  Rev.  Wm.  P.  Merrill,  D.D. 

The  Dearest  Psalm 

And  The  Model  Prayer.     By  Henry  Ostrom,  D.D. 
The  Life  Beyond 

By  Mrs.  Alfred  Gatty,   author  of  "Parables  from 

Nature." 

Mountain  Tops  with  Jesus 

By  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.D. 
A  Life  for  a  Life 

And  other  Addresses.     By  Prof.  Henry  Drummond. 
With  Portrait. 

Peace,  Perfect  Peace 

A  Portion  for  the  Sorrowing.     By  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer, 
B.A. 

Money 

Thoughts  for   God's   Stewards.      By   Rev.  Andrew 

Murray. 

Jesus  Himself 

By  Rev.   Andrew    Murray.     With   Portrait  of  the 
Author. 
Love  Made  Perfect     By  Rev.  Andrew  Murray. 

The  Ivory  Palaces  of  the  King 

By  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D. 
Christ  Reflected  in  Creation. 

By  D.  C.  McMillan. 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK  TORONTO 


The  ManWhoWanted 
To  Help 


James  G.  K.  McClure,  D.D. 

PRESIDENT    LAKE    FOREST    UNIVERSITY,    AUTHOR    OF 
'•  POSSIBILITIES,"  ETC. 


Chicago     New  York     Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


mdcccxcviii 


Copyright,  1898 
By  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


THE  MAN  WHO  WANTED 
TO  HELP 


The  Man  Who  Wanted  to 
Help 

Many  persons  do  not  know  their 
own  names.  They  know  the  names 
their  parents  gave  them  in  child- 
hood, the  names  which  people  use 
in  addressing  them,  but  they  do  not 
know  the  names  people  use  when 
speaking  of  them.  Sooner  or  later 
every  one  has  some  other  name  than 
the  one  of  his  childhood.  In  an- 
cient Athens  the  street  boys  used  to 
say  when  they  saw  Aristides,  "  There 
goes  'The  Just.'  "  So  in  Babylon, 
they  called  Alexander  "The  Great," 
and  in  Rome,  Nero  "  The  Cruel." 
5 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

One  element  of  a  person's  life  may 
give  him  his  new  name;  and  when 
people  think  of  Judas  they  call  him 
a  name  he  probably  never  heard, 
"  The  Betrayer,"  and  when  they 
think  of  Arnold  they  say,  "  The 
Traitor,"  and  of  Washington,  "The 
Good." 

Occasionally,  the  name  thus  given 
to  a  person  indicates  a  peculiar  and 
noticeable  characteristic.  On  Gen- 
eral Grant's  tomb  at  Riverside  are 
cut  the  words  he  used  in  a  season  of 
great  political  discord,  "  Let  us  have 
peace;"  so  he  is  known  as  "The 
Man  of  Peace."  Lincoln  said  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  Rebellion, 
"With  malice*  toward  none,  with 
charity  for  all,"  and  to-day  Lincoln 
6 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

is  called  "  The  Man  of  Charity." 
Because  Napoleon  claimed  that  a 
special  field  of  glory  had  been  pre- 
destined for  him,  he  was  named  "The 
Man  of  Destiny." 

Once  some  parents  who  had  po- 
etry in  their  natures  gave  their  son  a 
name  ever  to  be  associated  with  an 
event  of  his  infancy.  They  called 
him  "  Moses,"  meaning  "  drawn 
out,'*  because  he  had  been  drawn 
out  of  the  river  Nile,  where  in  a 
wicker  basket  he  had  been  exposed 
to  death.  That  name  is  good  so  far 
as  it  goes.  But  every  one  after  a 
while  earns  a  name  j  good  or  bad,  as 
it  may  be,  still  he  earns  it,  and  it  is 
his  distinctively.  The  name  of  our 
childhood  is  imposed  upon  us,  we 
7 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

have  nothing  to  say  about  it ;  but  our 
later  name  we  decide  entirely  for 
ourselves.  Jonathan  Jackson  said 
of  his  boy,  "His  name  is  Thomas;" 
and  so  it  was  until  the  boy  became 
a  man  and  earned  the  name  "Stone- 
wall." 

If  any  one  in  after  years  is  to  be 
remembered  as  "  The  Man  who 
Wanted  to  Help,"  he  must  be  noble- 
souled.  He  does  not  so  much  need 
a  large  occasion  as  a  thoughtful 
heart.  Opportunity  always  is  at 
hand  to  him  who  is  on  the  lookout 
for  helpfulness.  The  Romans  used 
to  make  opportunity  a  god  and  write 
her  name  "  Opportunity,"  as  though 
she  was  ready  to  present  herself  to 
any  one  who  would  welcome  her. 
8 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

She  is  immediately  at  the  side  of  all 
who  will  use  her.  Only,  we  need 
to  keep  our  eyes  wide  open  lest  we 
shall  not  recognize  her  presence. 
She  has  a  strange  way  of  keeping  a 
little  bit  out  of  sight  until  she  sees 
us  looking  for  her;  then  she  makes 
herself  known. 

It  might  have  been  thought  that 
this  poetically-named  young  man  had 
no  special  opportunity  for  nobility  of 
soul.  He  lived  in  a  palace,  sur- 
rounded by  luxury.  The  popular 
opinion  is  that  the  softness  of  a  king's 
court  robs  a  person  of  his  vigor.  It 
often  does.  Petting  may  enervate ; 
making  us  so  dependent  upon  itself 
that  we  become  absorbed  in  receiv- 
ing attention  and  forgetful  of  giving 
9 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

it.  But  it  need  not.  William  I., 
of  Germany,  always  slept  on  a  hard 
bed  so  that  the  luxury  of  his  palace 
might  not  unfit  him  for  stern  war. 
There  is  more  than  one  way  of 
using  comforts  so  that  they  shall  be 
our  servants,  not  our  masters.  What 
way  Moses  used  we  do  not  know ; 
but  when  he  steps  upon  the  scene 
of  public  action  his  spirit  is  as  strong 
and  virile  as  that  of  a  knight.  The 
chevalier  Bayard  and  all  those  high 
souls  that  defended  the  helpless, 
guarded  the  right  and  fought  for  the 
good,  were,  every  man  of  them,  his 
brothers. 

Three  times,  and  three  times  only 
do  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  in  his 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

early  years.  Once  he  is  out  walk- 
ing. He  sees  a  case  of  oppression: 
an  Egyptian  is  beating  an  Israelite. 
The  odds  are  all  with  the  Egyptian; 
he  is  master,  the  other  is  slave;  he 
has  legal  rights,  the  other  has  none. 
Besides,  the  Egyptian  is  the  stronger 
man  and  is  worsting  the  Israelite. 
What  should  Moses  do?  In  his 
heart  burned  a  desire  to  help.  He 
sprang  to  the  side  of  the  under  man, 
and  in  rescuing  him,  slew  the  Egyp- 
tian. It  was  a  most  unfortunate 
action.  It  was  like  Uncle  Tom's 
interfering  with  the  slave-master  who 
was  abusing  Cassy;  the  slave-master 
turned  upon  Uncle  Tom  and  had 
him  lashed.     Moses  only   imperiled 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

his  own  life  and  the  welfare  of  his 
friends  by  his  effort  at  help;  he  made 
the  bad  worse. 

Will  he  do  better  the  next  time? 
Men  who  are  eager  to  help  soon 
find  their  opportunity,  and  Moses 
found  his  the  very  next  day,  when  he 
was  out  walking.  He  went  where 
the  despised  Hebrews  had  their 
Ghetto.  Two  of  them  were  fight- 
ing; one  was  wrong,  the  other 
right.  Should  he  get  mixed  up  in 
their  quarrel  ?  What  responsibility 
was  it  of  his  ?  His  desire  to  help 
overleaped  all  such  questions;  he 
tried  to  bring  peace  by  reasoning  with 
the  man  who  was  wrong.  But  in 
vain;  his  words  were  thrown  back 
at  him  with  cruel  taunts.      A  second 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

time  the  man  who  wanted   to  help 
had  failed. 

What  will  happen  now?  It  is  not 
enough  to  be  earnest;  a  man  has  also 
to  be  wise.  The  knowing  how  to 
help  is  as  essential  as  the  desiring  to 
help.  Oftentimes  the  humiliation 
caused  by  misdirected  efforts  opens 
the  eyes  to  the  necessity  of  wise 
method.  And  so  the  best  thing  hap- 
pened to  the  man  who  wanted  to  help 
that  could  happen.  Pharaoh,  believ- 
ing him  to  be  dangerous,  determined 
to  kill  him.  There  was  nothing  to 
be  done  now  but  flee.  And  away 
he  went,  passing  in  an  instant  from 
wealth  to  poverty.  His  good  clothes 
were  gone,  his  position  as  a  king's 
son  was  gone;  everything  was  gone 
13 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

that  men  usually  consider  essential 
to  helpfulness.  Stripped  of  all  ex- 
ternal power,  whatever  he  is  to  ac- 
complish now  must  be  through  his 
own  personality.  Can  such  a  man 
find  a  sphere  for  helping  ?  We  shall 
see.  All  will  depend  upon  the  spirit 
that  animates  him;  if  he  lets  his  fail- 
ures and  disappointments  dull  his 
interest  in  men,  we  shall  hear  no  more 
from  him;  but  if  he  keeps  a  kindly 
heart,  then  he  will  o«^  a  blessing. 

He  came  to  a  well.  As  he  sat 
resting  beside  it,  seven  shepherdesses 
brought  up  their  flocks.  They  drew 
water  and  filled  the  troughs  for  their 
sheep.  They  had  no  more  than 
done  this  before  a  band  of  rough 
men  pushed  to  the  well  bringing  their 
H 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

sheep.  Seeing  the  water  aheady 
drawn  in  the  troughs,  they  with 
brute  force  drove  back  the  sheep  of 
the  women  and  put  their  own  at  the 
troughs.  Such  an  occurrence  as 
this  was  not  unusual.  The  women 
had  suffered  from  it  repeatedly,  and 
no  one  had  thought  much  of  its 
meanness.  But  to-day  there  is  a 
man  at  hand  different  from  any  who 
has  ever  witnessed  this  transaction. 
He  has  a  spirit  in  him  that  responds 
to  need.  He  sees  this  injustice,  and 
what  does  he  do  but  spring  to  the 
relief  of  the  defenseless  women, 
force  the  thieving  men  away,  and 
then  gallantly  complete  his  kindness 
by  filling  the  emptied  troughs  for 
those  who  had  been  assailed.  It  was 
15 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

a  great  risk  he  ran ;  but  better  far  to 
imperil  his  life  than  dampen  the  en- 
thusiasm of  his  chivalry  by  hesitat- 
ing to  act.  That  evening  when 
those  shepherdesses,  reaching  home 
earlier  than  was  their  wont,  ex- 
plained their  timely  coming,  they 
sang  the  praises  of  a  man  who,  the 
t4iird  time  trying  to  help,  had  at  last 
succeeded. 

From  now  on  this  one  whose 
whole  early  life  is  summed  up  in 
these  three  deeds  was  to  know  how 
to  help.  The  man  who  wanted  to 
help  has  become  the  man  who  can 
help.  He  is  going  to  study  human 
nature  in  himself  and  see  what  will 
help  him;  he  is  going  to  study  flocks, 
too,  and  see  how  to  lead  them  and 
i6 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

care  for  them,  and  he  will  learn 
many  a  lesson  of  patience  and  for- 
bearance as  well  as  of  purpose ;  he 
also  is  going  to  commune  with  God, 
and  thus  there  will  come  sweetness 
and  gentleness  into  his  love  for  his  fel- 
lows, and  the  result  will  be,  that  he 
whose  desire  to  help  outlived  all 
failures  will  some  day  be  mentioned 
as  perhaps  the  most  useful  man  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

A  long  story  for  an  illustration, 
you  say.  Ah,  but  what  is  more  in- 
teresting than  a  bit  of  personal  ex- 
perience, and  what  could  picture  our 
thought  better !  There  are  really 
but  two  classes  of  people  in  our 
world — those  who  want  to  help,  and 
those  who  want  to  be  helped.  It  is  the 
17 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

second  class  into  which  many  a  man 
gets,  either  purposely  or  unwittingly. 
It  is  so  large  that  no  one  is  ever 
lonesome  for  company  in  it.  How 
true  to  life  the  dream  that  came  to  a 
public-spirited  leader  :  He  and  sev- 
eral others  started  to  pull  a  heavy 
coach  uphill.  A  rope  was  fastened 
about  the  front  part,  and  they  all 
took  hold  together,  the  leader  at  their 
head.  The  signal  to  start  was 
given,  and  away  the  coach  went, 
amid  much  enthusiasm.  How  pleas- 
ant it  all  is,  thought  the  leader ;  and 
so  did  the  others  seem  to  think,  for  he 
heard  their  merry  voices  and  was  de- 
lighted at  their  interest  and  purpose. 
They  would  soon  be  at  the  top  of  the 
hill  !  It  was  not  long,  however,  before 
18 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

the  coach  seemed  heavier  to  the  leader 
than  at  first.  Reluctant  to  say  any- 
thing that  would  discourage  the 
others,  he  closed  his  lips  and  resolved 
that  he  would  put  all  his  energy  into 
the  work.  His  quick  ear  did  note 
the  fact  that  no  sounds  came  from 
those  behind  him,  but  interpreting 
their  silence  by  his  own,  he  held  the 
rope  the  tighter  and  pulled  the 
harder.  But  at  last  he  could  not 
budge  the  coach  an  inch.  Pull  as  he 
would,  it  was  in  vain.  He  turned  to 
speak  to  those  behind  him.  Not 
one  was  there  !  They  had  disap- 
peared !  But  where  ?  He  went  to 
the  coach,  looked  in,  and  there  they 
all  were,  asleep.  One  by  one  they 
had  become  "  tired,"  and  had  gotten 
19 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

in  while  he   had  been  pulling  them, 
as  well  as  the  coach,  uphill! 

True  to  life  indeed !  Hosts  of 
people  seem  to  feel  that  they  must 
never  outgrow  their  babyhood,  but 
should  be  carried  all  their  days.  Es- 
pecially when  the  uphill  work  of  life 
comes  are  they  glad  to  have  some 
one  else  do  that  work  while  they 
profit  by  it.  No  one  wonders  that  they 
feel  so;  it  is  the  easiest  way  to  live, 
free  from  strain  and  burden,  and  free, 
too,  from  responsibility.  It  is  the 
way  the  tramp  lives,  and  every  man 
has  somewhat  of  the  tramp  in  him. 
A  study  of  the  "  unemployed  classes  " 
in  England  brings  out  the  fact  that 
thousands  of  men  will  take  work  if 


20 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

it  is  brought  to  them,  but  they  never 
make  an  effort  to  seek  it. 

And  yet  Ruskin  was  right  when 
he  said:  "  There  is  no  true  potency 
but  that  of  help ;  nor  true  ambition 
but  ambition  to  save."  It  exalts  a 
heart  to  bend  itself  to  another's  up- 
lift, and  it  glorifies  a  life  to  remedy 
the  world's  ills.  No  small  man  ever 
yet  had  such  purposes;  he  could  not 
have  them  and  remain  small.  They 
are  large,  and  they  have  enlarging 
power.  As  soon  as  a  person  has  a 
helpful  intention  in  his  heart  he  looms 
up;  he  becomes  a  factor  in  a  home 
or  in  society  that  will  eventually  make 
an  impression.  If  Moses  has  re- 
solved that  his  life  motive  shall  be  to 


21 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

help  the  needy,  he  may  act  stum- 
blingly  at  first,  but  he  will  break  a 
bondage  at  the  last.  John  Brown 
did  not  know  the  speediest  and  wisest 
way  to  end  negro  slavery  in  the  South, 
but  when,  as  answer  to  the  cry  of 
three  million  human  hearts  calling  to 
him  for  deliverance,  he  determined 
to  do  something,  or  say  something, 
or  suffer  something  that  would  put 
an  eternal  period  to  that  slavery,  the 
final  result  was  sure.  Say  that  his 
act  in  seizing  Harper's  Ferry  was 
foolish;  say  that  when  he  was  put  to 
death  his  death  was  in  clear  con- 
formity to  law.  Still,  indiscreet  as  he 
was,  he  had  good  part  in  starting  a 
movement  carrying  in  its  sweep  the 
extinction  of  slavery,  and  hundreds 

22 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

of  thousands  of  soldiers  kept  step  to 
the  marching  of  John  Brown's  soul 
as  they  irresistibly  forced  slavery  to 
its  death. 

It  cheers  a  man's  very  heart  to 
know  what  he  can  accomplish  in  life 
simply  by  "  wanting  to  help."  If 
that  desire  is  lodged  once  and  for- 
ever in  his  soul  and  cannot  be  damp- 
ened or  dissipated  by  obstacles,  some 
hurtful  thing  will  surely  be  over- 
powered, and  some  good  cause  will 
surely  be  built  up.  David  is  a  mere 
stripling  as  Goliath  sees  him,  and 
many  a  one  might  think  his  slight 
form  and  boyish  face  stand  for  im- 
potency.  Goliath  scorns  him.  He 
little  knows  that  in  this  youth  is  a 
purpose  to  help !  It  seems  very 
33 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

sentimental  and  impracticable.  What 
can  come  of  it  ?  This  can  come 
of  it — that  animated  by  it  the  youth 
will  hunt  up  some  way  of  accomplish- 
ing help:  if  not  by  armor,  then  by  a 
sling.  And  this  always  comes  of 
such  a  purpose :  the  man  who  has  it 
becomes  a  pathfinder  for  something 
beneficent.  It  quickens  his  percep- 
tions of  needs,  it  deepens  his  sympa- 
thies, it  stirs  his  courage.  "  Come 
and  help  us,"  has  been  the  voice 
heard,  and  when  the  answer  has  gone 
back,  "  We  will  help  you  or  die  in 
the  attempt,"  the  men  who  have  so 
answered,  in  themselves  have  become 
noble  and  to  others  have  brought 
deliverance.  That  purpose  shook  a 
self  satisfied  scholastic  out  of  his 
24 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

composure,  and  made  Paul's  heart 
burn  with  a  new  energy  and  his  in- 
fluence assume  a  new  blessedness. 
All  the  good  there  is  in  a  man  is 
waked  up  when  he  becomes  the 
man  who  wants  to  help. 

And  then  what  may  result  from 
his  purpose !  Every  reform  born 
into  the  world  has  come  from  a  heart 
holding  this  purpose  :  all  prison  im- 
provement, all  educational  advance, 
all  removal  of  unjust  laws.  Eliza- 
beth Fry,  and  Froebel,  and  Peel  were 
inspired  by  it.  It  is  a  perilous  thing 
often ;  it  landed  Paul  in  a  jail  be- 
cause he  was  bound  to  help  the  man 
of  Macedonia  ;  it  killed  Telema- 
chus  because  he  was  bound  to  stop 
gladiatorial  murders.  But  whether 
25 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

in  jail,  or  out  of  jail,  Paul  the  helper 
started  the  salvation  of  Europe,  and 
whether  dead  or  alive,  Telemachus 
the  helper  ended  gladiatorial  mur- 
ders. Even  if  we  do  not  succeed 
in  our  efforts  to  help  as  we  hoped, 
others  learning  by  our  mistakes,  if 
mistakes  they  were,  will  take  up  our 
efforts  where  we  laid  them  down 
and  will  forward  them  toward  the 
goal.  But  what  men  call  our  mis- 
takes are  not  always  actual  mistakes; 
often  they  are  the  very  wisest  and 
best  deeds  that  the  circumstances 
admitted.  One  person's  failure  may 
inflame  zeal  in  scores  of  others. 
When  Ellsworth  was  shot  at  Alex- 
andria, thousands  upon  thousands  of 
men  leaped  to  the  defense  of  the 
26 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

cause  for  which  he  perished.  The 
man  who  wants  to  help  is  humani- 
ty's hero.  He  is  not  forgotten  ;  he 
never  lives  wholly  in  vain.  In  some 
good  hour  men  call  him  to  mind 
and  they  follow  him.  Winkelried 
dies  with  the  spears  of  the  enemy 
piercing  his  breast — but  the  man  who 
tried  to  open  a  path  of  deliverance, 
henceforth  is  an  inspirer  to  deeds  of 
bravest  loyalty  and  staunchest  devo- 
tion. 

It  is  always  costly  to  be  the  man 
who  wants  to  help.  Personal  ambi- 
tions have  to  be  laid  aside ;  the  sel- 
fish instincts  have  to  be  opposed  and 
even  curbed.  Usually  a  man  can 
lift  another  only  by  putting  himself 
beneath  him,  and  can  help  a  cause 
27 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

only  by  making  sacrifice  for  it.  It 
is  very  seldom  that  an  inventor  works 
out  an  invention,  or  a  poet  a  poem, 
excepting  through  a  lonely  isolation 
from  the  world's  gaiety;  and  it  is  just 
as  seldom  that  a  helper  biesses  his 
fellows  excepting  as  he  has  special 
hours  wherein  he  dwells  apart  from 
the  world's  pleasures.  But  the  result 
justifies  the  effort.  When  Moses 
started  to  lend  a  hand  to  every  needy 
situation,  it  was  inevitable  that  he 
would  be  misunderstood.  If  he  saw 
a  social  wrong,  he  tried  to  right  it; 
if  he  saw  oppression  by  employers  or 
faithlessness  by  employees,  he  tried 
to  remedy  them.  He  wished  public 
education  to  prosper,  and  every  prin- 
ciple of  sanitation  to  prevail.  He 
28 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

had  a  heart  and  an  eye  for  every  pos- 
sible thing  that  he  thought  would 
make  men  happy  and  good.  And 
the  more  his  interest  in  the  world's 
needs  absorbed  him,  the  less  could 
selfish  men  understand  him.  But  he 
had  his  reward  ;  high  thoughts  be- 
came his  guests,  generous  impulses 
filled  his  soul,  sweetness  and  tender- 
ness swayed  his  heart.  Then,  too, 
there  came  the  ripening  of  his  pow- 
ers; starting  to  help  in  one  thing,  he 
learned  how  to  help  in  many  things. 
He  grew  in  comprehension  of  judg- 
ment, and  grew  also  into  the  very 
nature  and  joys  of  God. 

Cost   then  what   it   may,  a  noble 
soul  will  aspire  to  be  helpful.     For 
to  be  otherwise  is  to  be  a  parasite  on 
29 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

the  social  or  religious  organism.  The 
mistletoe  fastens  itself  upon  an  oak 
or  apple-tree,  forces  its  roots  within, 
appropriates  the  sap,  and  then,  fed  by 
another's  life,  flourishes. 

Even  some  animals  fasten  them- 
selves on  other  animals,  and,  feeding 
on  tissues  that  do  not  belong  to  them- 
selves, grow  fat  and  thrive.  And 
there  are  birds,  like  the  cowbird  and 
the  European  cuckoo,  that  never 
build  a  nest  for  themselves,  but, 
searching  until  they  find  a  nest  built 
by  the  energy  of  another,  they  seize 
it  as  their  own.  There  is  something 
ignoble,  contemptible,  in  being  a 
parasitic  plant  or  bird,  and  it  is  just 
as  ignoble,  just  as  contemptible  to  be 
a  parasitic  man,  living  wholly  on 
30 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

what  others  provide.  Such  a  man  is 
virtually  a  thief  j  he  steals  his  living. 
He  is  worse  ;  he  drinks  another's  life- 
blood. 

The  man  who  wants  to  help 
scorns  to  be  a  "parasite."  Benefit- 
ing as  he  does  by  the  Christian  civil- 
ization that  has  nourished  him,  he 
resolves  to  add  to,  not  detract  from, 
that  civilization.  He  will  be  a  giver 
to  the  world's  good  as  well  as  a  re- 
ceiver. Balfour,  in  his  "  Foundations 
of  Belief,"  expresses  the  man's  pur- 
pose. He  says,  "that  even  if  we 
offer  no  personal  influence  to  Christi- 
anity, even  if  we  deny  its  claims,  we 
still  live  on  it."  And  then  he  adds: 
"  Biologists  tell  us  of  parasites  that 
live,  and  can  only  live,  within  the 
31 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

bodies  of  animals  more  highly  organ- 
ized than  themselves.  For  them 
their  luckless  host  has  to  find  food, 
to  digest  it,  and  convert  it  into  nour- 
ishment, which  they  consume  with- 
out exertion  and  assimilate  without 
difficulty.  Their  structure  is  of  the 
simplest  kind.  Their  host  sees  for 
•them,  so  they  need  no  eyes;  he  hears 
for  them,  so  they  need  no  ears;  he 
works  for  them  and  contrives  for 
them,  so  they  need  but  feeble  mus- 
cles and  an  undeveloped  nervous  sys- 
tem. But  are  we  to  conclude  from 
this  that  for  the  animal  kingdom  eyes 
and  ears,  powerful  limbs  and  com- 
plex nerves  are  superfluities  ?  They 
are  superfluities  for  the  parasite  only 
because  they  have  first  been  necessi- 

32 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

ties  for  the  host,  and  when  the  host 
perishes,  the  parasite,  in  their  ab- 
sence, is  likely  to  perish  also." 
"No,"  the  man  who  wants  to  help 
says,  "  I  will  not  be  a  parasite.  The 
convictions  of  honor  that  underlie 
my  life,  the  home  refinement  in  which 
I  grew  up,  the  standards  of  right  and 
purity  that  I  hold,  the  ideals  of  pur- 
pose and  behavior  in  which  I  was 
nourished,  have  all  come  from  Christi- 
anity; and  these  things,  the  best 
things  within  me  and  around  me, 
shall  not  find  me  merely  existing  by 
them,  but  they  shall  find  me  labor- 
ing for  them.  They  have  helped 
me,  and  I  will  help  them." 

Anything  less  than  this  purpose  is 
fatal   to  a    man's    moral   vigor ;  he 
33 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

grows  weak  and  vitiated  without  it. 
Lowell  a  few  years  since  in  England 
had  occasion  to  refer  to  those  who, 
having  obtained  all  their  moral  glory 
through  Christian  institutions,  after- 
ward repudiated  those  institutions. 
This  was  his  comparison  :  "  They 
have  been  helped  to  climb  to  the 
lofty  place  in  which  they  are,  by  a 
ladder,  and  now  they  turn  around 
and  kick  down  the  very  ladder  that 
lifted  them."  Freely  having  re- 
ceived, why  not  freely  give  ?  To 
feel  no  desire  to  add  to  the  world's 
good  is  to  be  mean-spirited. 

What    a    watchword    that    was, 

spoken    by  her   mother  to   Frances 

Willard:    "  My  child,    enter    every 

open  door."     That  watchword  was 

34 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

a  clarion  note  summoning  Frances 
Willard  to  usefulness.  With  eyes 
that  scanned  the  needs  of  society  as 
an  Indian  scout  in  time  of  war  scans 
the  horizon,  she  found  doors,  yes, 
and  open  doors,  for  her  efforts.  It 
was  not  a  day  when  woman  was  un- 
trammeled  for  the  putting  forth  of 
her  powers  of  help.  Extraordinary 
moral  courage  was  needed;  it  seemed 
so  out  of  place  for  a  woman  to  be 
publicly  advocating  the  side  of  the 
oppressed,  and  to  be  lifting  her 
voice  for  reform!  But  she  "  took 
upon  her  soul  the  woes  which  fill 
the  drunkard's  home  and  fall  with 
such  crushing  force  upon  the  timid, 
trusting,  patient  keeper  of  that 
home."  As  the  heart  of  Bruce  was 
35 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

thrown  into  the  midst  of  the  fight, 
she  threw  herself  into  the  temper- 
ance cause,  into  every  cause  that  she 
believed  would  bless  woman  and  so 
would  bless  the  world.  She  thought 
of  little  children  and  their  welfare, 
of  growing  youth  and  their  purity; 
she  lifted  a  banner  inscribed,  "  For 
God,  for  home  and  native  land,'*  and 
marching  under  it  herself,  she  gath- 
ered to  it  tens  of  thousands  who  fol- 
low it  now  and  will  follow  it  always. 
And  when  Frances  Willard  re- 
solved "  I  will  enter  every  open 
door,"  she  made  herself  an  energy 
whose  influence  became  world-wide 
and  eternal. 

If  a  person  will  only  take  to  him- 
self such  a  resolve,  all  life  will   be 
36 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

changed  for  him,  and  he  will  help 
change  all  life  for  many  another. 
The  suggestion  for  such  a  resolve 
often  comes  strangely.  Many  a 
man  has  thought  the  windows  of 
heaven  ought  to  open  and  a  voice 
in  tones  of  commanding  authority 
speak  to  him  therefrom,  if  he  were 
to  receive  the  inspiration  necessary 
to  such  a  new  energy.  Seldom,  in- 
deed, is  srch  a  voice  heard — once  in 
a  century,  by  an  Augustine  in  the 
garden,  and  as  the  voice  speaks  he 
learns  that  he  is  to  drop  all  his  daw- 
dling and  selfishness,  and  be  a  man  of 
action,  purity,  and  human  succor. 
But  usually  the  way  is  this,  as  it  was 
with  the  father  of  Dr.  William  M. 
Taylor,  in  Scotland.  His  father  was 
37 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

going  to  mill,  with  a  sack  of  grain 
laid  over  a  horse's  back.  The 
bridle  path  was  rough,  the  horse 
stumbled,  and  the  sack  fell  off.  Too 
old  to  replace  it,  he  wondered  who 
would  help  him.  A  man  came  in  sight. 
His  heart  sank  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  the  nobleman  of  an  adjoining 
castle.  How  could  he  ask  aid  of 
him!  But  he  did  not  have  to  askj 
the  nobleman  had  his  own  life- 
motto,  and  dismounting,  voiced  it, 
"  Let  me  help  you,  John."  The  load 
was  soon  on  the  horse.  "  Please, 
your  lordship,"  said  John,  "  how 
shall  I  ever  thank  you  for  your 
kindness? "  This  was  the  reply — 
and  once  heard  by  any  man,  it  is  all 
the  inspiration  for  helpful  purpose  he 
38 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

can  ask — "  Whenever  you  see  an- 
other man  as  sorely  needing  assist- 
ance as  you  were  just  now,  help 
him;  and  that  will  be  thanking 
me." 

What  inspiriting  deeds  have  sprung 
from  this  purpose!  When  we  know 
how  it  has  wrought  changes,  turning 
despair  into  hope  and  feebleness  into 
power,  we  marvel  that  everybody  does 
not  seek  it  and  live  by  it.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  the  genius  of  help. 
It  may  be  acquired.  It  is  never  de- 
nied any  man  who  wishes  it.  But 
help  is  so  important  a  factor  in  hu- 
man life  that  no  one  can  ever  ex- 
pect the  genius  of  help  to  be  his,  as 
water  falls,  of  itself.  Help  to  be 
help  must  be  an  actual  benefit.  Any- 
39 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

thing  that  injures,  whatever  the  spirit 
in  which  it  is  done,  is  not  help,  but 
hurt.  Is  not  this,  then,  a  definition 
of  the  origin  of  help — "  It  springs 
from  wisdom  that  is  inspired  by 
love?"  When  Harriet  Belcher 
Stowe's  work  was  summed  up — ^and 
that  work  lay  back  of  John  Brown's 
and  Abraham  Lincoln's  and  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation — it  was 
said  that  the  whole  explanation  of 
her  influence  lay  in  her  power  of 
sympathy.  Yes,  sympathy  indeed, 
but  with  what  consummate  skill  she 
told  the  story  that  went  deep  into 
the  heart  and  conscience  of  the 
American  nation,  and  fixed  itself  in 
memory — and  would  not  let  itself  be 
forgotten  until  that  story  became  a 
40 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

story  of  the  past  and  not  of  the 
present.  Love  there  must  be,  but 
wisdom,  too,  lest  the  very  one  whom 
we  would  strengthen,  we  weaken — 
and  the  very  one  we  would  encour- 
age to  activity  we  encourage  in  list- 
lessness.  Astoria  Hill  understood 
all  this  when  she  went  into  the  heart 
of  London's  poorest  districts,  took 
old  buildings  and  made  them  clean, 
healthful  and  well-equipped  dwell- 
ings. Ruskin  understood  it  when 
he  furnished  most,  if  not  all,  of  the 
money  for  this  work.  Miss  Hill  sat 
down  beside  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, living  with  them,  correcting 
them,  showing  her  own  example  of 
careful  housekeeping,  and  insisting 
that  rents  should  be  paid — and  she 
41 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

lifted  the  people,  not  lowered  them 
— and  hers  was  help  indeed. 

What  a  world  of  need  ours  is  !- 
Where  is  the  heart  that  does  not 
lack  cheer,  and  comfort,  and 
strength  ?  To  give  these  is  to  give 
much.  To  help  the  world  think 
straight,  to  help  it  to  be  true,  is 
much.  The  older  man  who  simply 
prayed  God  to  open  a  young  man's 
•eyes  to  know  that  God's  chariots 
and  horsemen  are  on  the  side  of 
the  right,  helped  the  young  man. 
Esther  helped  when  she  made  peti- 
tion for  an  endangered  race.  Mar- 
cus Aurelius  helped  when  he  wrote 
of  courage  and  hope.  Andrew 
helped  when  he  led  another  to  the 
great  Teacher.  Philip  helped  when 
42 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

he  explained  the  meaning  of  history. 
The  man  who  tramping  out  from 
Rome  to  meet  Paul  the  prisoner  put 
gladness  in  his  heart,  helped.  Tolstoi 
tells  of  the  beggar  to  whom  he  said, 
"  Brother,  I  have  no  money" — and 
the  beggar  grasped  his  hand  with  de- 
light because  he  called  him  "  Broth- 
er." Every  home  in  which  we  live 
needs  brightening;  every  friend  we 
have  needs  inspiriting ;  every  earnest 
cause  needs  strengthening.  Some 
persons  sit  by  the  wayside  begging  j 
others  walk  life's  path  bestowing. 
"  I  get  all  I  can,"  the  sponge  says; 
"  I  give  all  I  can,"  the  light  says. 
"  'Tis  only  noble  to  be  good,"  is 
wise  ;  "  'tis  only  noble  to  be  helpful" 
is  wiser. 

43 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

"  All  men,*'  said  Emerson, "  are 
benefactors  or  malefactors."  Glad- 
stone visited  a  poor  sick  boy  whom 
he  had  seen  sweeping  the  street 
crossings.  Phillips  Brooks  cared 
for  an  infant  child  in  the  slums  that 
its  mother  might  get  out  to  the 
fresh  air.  Humboldt  gave  Agassiz, 
resigning  his  studies  because  he 
could  not  meet  his  expenses,  a 
check,  wherewith  he  completed  his 
studies.  Christ  put  His  shoulder 
under  other  men's  burdens  and 
helped  every  needy  heart  and  cause 
He  could  find. 

A  boat  was  stranded.     Men  were 

trying  to  push  it  off  the  sand  into  the 

deeper  water  and   float  it.     Progress 

was    slow.     One    man    seemed    to 

44 


The  Man  who  Wanted  to  Help 

shirk.  His  comrade  looked  up  and 
saw  him.  Then  he  said,  "  Have 
you  hope  of  heaven?'*  "Yes," 
the  man  answered  quickly.  "Then 
take  hold  and  help! " 

And  so  I  say  to  every  man  the 
world  over  who  would  have  hope  of 
heaven,  "  Take  hold  and  help." 

**If  any  little  word  of  mine  can  make  a 

life  the  brighter. 
If  any  little   song  of  mine   can  make  a 

heart  the  lighter, 
God  help  me  speak  the   little  word,  and 

take  my  life  of  singing. 
And  drop  it  in   some  lonely  vale,  to  set 

the  echoes  ringing.'* 


45 


